


Resigned Royalty

by Sephypsycologist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I don't see a lot of stuff with these cuties, so i thought i'd remedy that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 09:38:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17784998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephypsycologist/pseuds/Sephypsycologist
Summary: Sans was glad to not be king.Really.But being lonesome was something that had not changed at all.





	Resigned Royalty

Sans didn’t mind letting Papyrus be the king. He was so tired, and Paps deserved it. He never stopped being kind, or helping others, or any of the other wonderful things that made him Papyrus.

Sans had betrayed himself more times than he could count.

While his ‘vacation’ was technically a punishment for his sins (not like he didn’t feel them crawling on his back all day every day), he wasn’t upset about it in the least.  
The kid had done the impossible, and they were all free and in the sun. Chara and Asriel got to see real stars. Toriel and Asgore had a chance to reconcile. And Papyrus had people to take care of.

Him being alone was fine. He deserved it.

Now he lived by himself in this tiny apartment deep in the city, trying to scrape by on odd jobs. This felt so much more natural. He didn’t have to work hard at all, nobody answered to him or expected anything of him, and he could finish out his life in relative anonymity. People would ask if he was related to “the king” and he’d reply that King Papyrus was way too good to be related to him. That stopped anything.

So here he was, working at a Starbucks for minimum wage (which was even lower for monsters) and living off the stale pastries they gave him. He didn’t earn any better.  
So he looked up at the young woman in front of him and rattled off his script, and never expected to see the slow blush on her cheeks. Sans realized he’d seen her before. This week, every day. “you’re y/n, right?”

“U-um, yes! You…remembered?” oh no, poor girl. He knew that tone of voice. Best let her down easy.

“kinda hard to forget when you’re in here every day.” He was already getting her order ready. “the usual, right?”

“yeah. So….Sans, right?” he felt his soul sink as she said his name. He hated it. He hated how happy she sounded when all he was going to bring her was heartache.

“yeah. that’s what my girlfriend tells me anyway.” A white lie now to save her a world of hurt later.

At least it would have if the smarmy human working the other register snorted, “Sans, you don’t have a girlfriend. I’ve seen where you live, you’re a single and miserable.”

Poor y/n was still obviously hurt. “o-oh. Eheh….it’s okay. I get it. Sorry. I’ll um….I’ll get out of your way. Didn’t mean to get under your skin with…well…sorry.”

He hated himself right now, but he couldn’t stop the snort of laughter from coming out. He adored puns way too much.

“wh-what…?” oh no, it just hurt to see her look even more dejected, but he couldn’t help it.

His coworker was staring, so he gave y/n their drink, “get under my skin?”

Her whole body from neck up went bright red, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, is that insensitive?”

Sans couldn’t stop laughing, “n-no! no it was good! gosh you’re so nervous, i’m sorry, but ahah, oh geeze that was priceless.”

Her face relaxed as her color faded and she set her money on the counter, “Yeah…eheh….”

“c-come on, y/n, i’m not worth your time, believe me.” Sans didn’t know why he felt bad about rejecting her. It was for her own good, after all.

She looked away, but sighed. He could practically see her soul squeezing with hurt. “Thanks, Sans. I’ll um…well, bye.”

As she left, the same smarmy coworker looked at Sans, bewildered, “You just had a chance to go out with a nice girl and you rejected her? Why?”

“like i told her, bud, i’m not worth it.”

The glare he received was almost palpable. He shrugged. He was used to being hated.

 

Sighing, Sans made his way home after his shift, a box of things not sold under his arm. At least now he could dress as he wished, not having to uphold any sort of image. He unlocked the door of his apartment, placing his box on the table by the door before flopping down onto his mattress in his bedroom. Life was hard but he kept going simply to make sure Papyrus was okay. His finger pressed the on button for the small tv with free local channels, and it was already tuned in to Monster News network. Papyrus did more great things today with little Frisk beside him as ambassador.

He looked at the screen and smiled sadly. His precious little brother was happy, and making a positive difference. The kingdom was at peace and humanity was taking it rather well compared to what the others had thought. He knew though. Humans were just as lazy as he was, or at least some of them were. Humans and monsters all had different personalities. And it was fear and bad luck that had caused so much tragedy.

But that was neither here nor there.

He thought back over his day as he watched the news. After rejecting y/n the whole rest of the staff just looked at him disapprovingly. Why though? If he’s not good enough for someone, then why is rejecting them a bad thing?

His phone blipped and he picked it up with a groan.

Babybones: Uncle Sans, are you okay?

Sans chuckled. The kid was always worried about him, even if Paps didn’t like them being close to him. They were good, he had to admit.

Me: yeah, kiddo. How’re you and paps?

Babybones: we’re good! I miss you tho ☹ did you have a good day at work?

Me: yeah. had to say no to somebody who asked me on a date, but other than that.

Babybones: SOMEONE ASKED YOU OUT? OoO why did you say no?

Me: cause

He wasn’t going to say ‘because I’m not worth their time’ or ‘because I don’t deserve to be happy’ or ‘because they’d lose interest eventually anyway’ to a kid.

Babybones: > : ( uncle sans!

Me: ehehe, kiddo, it’s grown up stuff. I’m not gonna say. How about you, did school go good?

Babybones: don’t change the subject, but yes, it did. Are you going to see this person again?

Me: frisk, c’mon. the other guys at work wanted me to go with her, too.

Babybones: maybe you should have!

Babybones: uncle sans, you’re all alone. ☹ you should try to make some friends at least. Maybe say you’re sorry?

Sans looked at the phone for a bit. Was he really considering this? Just because the kid wanted him to?

Me: okay, kiddo. If I see her again, I’ll apologize and see if we can be friends. Just for you. 😉

Babybones: YAY!

Babybones: I gotta go now, Pappy made dinner. I love you, Uncle Sans.

Me: love you, too, kiddo. Goodnight.

Well, now he had to. He was not looking forward to this, but hopefully she would do what she said and stay away. Then he wouldn’t have to face it.

 

He was lucky. She didn’t show up the next day, or any day for a whole three weeks. Frisk would ask on their nightly texts, and always give a sad face when the answer was negative. Poor kid was really set on this. Then it happened.

Sans was cleaning tables since it was a slow time, when the door chime made him turn. There she was, and she seemed down. As she walked to the counter, she didn’t even look up, just walking ahead.

The counter staff looked at Sans pointedly and motioned for him. Alright. He had said he’d try for Frisk. He came up to the counter and tapped her on the shoulder, “hey y/n. Why so blue?” She was wearing a blue dress shirt, so it was kind of a pun.

Her eyes were red, but she gave a watery smile, “Hehe, thanks Sans. I, um….I know I said I’d stay away, but this was closest to my work so…”

He had to do something. He could feel the despair coming off her. “Guys, I’m going on break. Also, charge her usual to me.” Sans put a finger to her mouth as she tried to protest, “nope, you’re letting me treat you. I screwed up last time we talked and I am gonna make that up to you big time right now.”

The waves of negative emotion ebbed slightly at that, and the staffers seemed happy at his reaction. He led her to the table by the counter and let her choose her seat before sitting across from her. “so first off, I’m sorry for being rude to you before.”

“n-no I shouldn’t….it was stupid of me. I was way too obvious.” She seemed legitimately down and this wasn’t helping.

“okay we’ll go over that later then. Now what’s wrong? You’ve been crying, and you didn’t even notice me when you came in.” 

She looked up from her fidgeting hands, and the aura got bleak around them, “I-I….I got fired.” It took everything she had not to cry again.

Oh geeze. Sans got the items from the counter and pushed them over to her, all with magic so he didn’t have to leave her view. “What? Do you wanna talk about it or…? I’ll listen, I promise.”

She took a slow sip of her drink and continued, “I, ah, I worked for the local college, right? Library tech. And things were good but…the budget cuts from the state…”

“they laid you off because your job was ‘expendable’ right?” Sans rubbed the bone between his sockets and sighed, “geeze humans really are strange; hiring people and firing them just for kicks like that.”

“yeah, b-but um…I…this means I have no income so…”she sipped her drink again. “I’m going to have to move back home, out of the city and everything. And I was just feeling a-at home here.”

“oh geeze.” Sans felt his soul squeeze painfully. How could he fix this? H- “why not ask at the monster embassy? They’re always looking for someone to help relations between humans and monsters.” Him and his big mouth.

Her expression was somewhere between shock and hope, “Really? Sans, that would be great. I hadn’t even thought about it. Do you think they need someone with library experience?”

“sure.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “look, my shift ends in about 30 minutes anyway. I’ll take you over and help you myself. Just…I kinda have some baggage with the embassy and people might look at me funny. So don’t freak out if that happens.”

She was very quiet, “Sans, we barely know each other. You don’t have to do me any favors because you rejected my stupid crush. I should have known monsters and humans wouldn’t work out in a relationship.”

“NO.” he had to explain himself NOW or she might think that forever. “kid, look, I said no to you because of my baggage and my fear. I hate myself, plain and simple, and I’m not good enough for you. You’re young and beautiful and got a whole future ahead of you. I’ve messed up so bad I don’t deserve any of that.”

There was comprehension in her face, and then sadness…followed by a tender smile, “Sans…that was so honest.”

His cheekbones felt warm. He was blushing, dang it. “I couldn’t let you think that. People are people, monsters and humans could fall in love anytime.”

“okay. But do you want to be friends then?” she seemed much happier now, and Sans was so grateful.

“yeah. so, pal, let’s get going to the embassy. I know a shortcut.”

 

The monster embassy was a modest building on the edge of town, and y/n seemed confused as to how they got here so fast.

“I told you, it was a shortcut.” Sans looked up at the building and sighed. His hoodie was rumpled, shirt too, his only casual pants were basketball shorts and he was in his freaking pink slippers. Great first casual impression, your ex-majesty.

“you really don’t have to go in with me, Sans,” her soft hand was on his shoulder, and he did his best not to flinch away. 

“Yeah I do. I have to face my demons some time, and I’d rather do it helping somebody than alone.” Sans felt a warmth in his soul when she squeezed his shoulder supportively before letting go. At least there was kindness in the world somewhere.

Inside the embassy, the walls were made of stone from the underground. The light purple stones practically radiated magic from being exposed so long to monsterkind. Sans relaxed minimally at the familiar atmosphere. “okay, kiddo, if I remember correctly, the office for personnel is over here.”

He pointed right and she followed him, seeming in awe to see so many monsters at once. The place was packed, as usual, but other than a few scowls, most of them didn’t notice him.

He nearly died when he saw who was handling employee relations. Of course it was Papyrus. He would never want to miss an opportunity to make new friends. He even had labeled boxes on his little desk. “hiring” was one, “official kingly business” was the other. There were a few more, but Sans was too far back to read them.

He was not looking forward to this, but he’d promised y/n he’d stay close and he kept his word.

Papyrus looked up when they were halfway through the line and fixed Sans with a pointed stare. The smaller skeleton cringed and moved closer to his human companion, “Uh…that’s my brother. We’re not on good terms right now…” he whispered, eyelights flicking up to see her reaction.

“Your brother is….” She was flabbergasted, but he saw the wheels turn. “Sans, you were the king. That’s your baggage, isn’t it?” Her voice was so soft, and instead of rage or disgust, there was sympathy. His bones rattled softly as he shuddered.

“Yeah….i’m that jerk who offed six kids. Aren’t you glad I didn’t let ya keep crushing on me?”

She was looking at him and it took everything he had not to just shortcut away. “Sans. You did a lot more good than bad, I’m sure. Don’t hurt yourself more.”

His eyelights went out, and he looked at the ground. She couldn’t know, there was no way. She couldn’t feel those vengeful hearts wrapping their dark tendrils around his ribs, sliding down his spine like so many toxic slimes.

The line moved up and Sans felt Papyrus’ eyes on him the whole time, even as he talked cheerily with each new human or monster. His brother had that talent, being kind to everyone while having some puzzle stewing in his skull.

Her delicate fingers find his phalanges and hold them fast. She’s trying to give him courage, and he can’t help the soft thrum of his magic spiking in response. Bless this human, and her forgiving nature. 

She stepped up to the counter and Papyrus beamed at her. He was pleased to see a new face, as always. “HUMAN! WELCOME TO THE EMBASSY! DO YOU HAVE SOME INTERESTING NEWS FOR THE KINGDOM? OR PERHAPS YOU WISH TO AID US AND WORK HERE?”

“Actually, your majesty, I did come for a job. Your brother was kind enough to suggest it when he found me deprived of one,” she returned his smile tenfold. Stars but he was finding it hard to be nervous with her hand in his. Her whole aura was soothing.

“HE DID? MY WORD. I HAD NOT EXPECTED TO EVEN HEAR OF HIM AGAIN.” Papyrus’ smile dropped as he looked at Sans, “BROTHER.”

“heya…” Sans replied sheepishly, squeezing y/n’s hand so he didn’t shy away.

“IT IS GOOD TO HEAR YOU ARE KEEPING OUT OF TROUBLE.” The curtness in that familiar voice cut Sans to the soul, but it wasn’t new. Papyrus was severely disappointed in him, and probably always would be from now on. 

“He’s been very good, I’d say,” the melody of her voice cuts the tension. “He’s kept a steady job for a long while. I would see him every day on my way to work, doing his job.” There was a look on you face that made Sans’ smile falter. Determination. You were determined to defend him, even after he broke your heart. Stars keep you safe, you were a treasure.

“R-REALLY?” the surprise in Papyrus’ face was easily readable. “WOWIE, THAT’S SO UNLIKE HIM. AND YOU SAID HE BROUGHT YOU HERE ON HIS OWN TO HELP YOU?”

“Of course,” you squeeze his hand again, “he’s been very helpful in my time of need. So, about that job?”

Sans listens to Papyrus as he babbles about a position as a guide of sorts. Monsters still didn’t know a lot of the norms of human cultures, so anyone who could help teach them was valuable. Your eyes sparkled with excitement at the prospect, and Sans found himself watching your smile. So natural, so genuine….he really liked it.

“WELL THEN! YOU SEEM QUITE READY FOR SUCH A POSITION, WORKING IN THE HUMAN LIBRARY. YOU SHOULD DO SPLENDIDLY, HUMAN FRIEND. MY BROTHER MADE A GOOD CHOICE FOR ONCE! NYEH HEH HEH!” he put down some paperwork in front of you, which you filled out quickly. “YOUR FIRST DAY IS TOMORROW. YOU WILL BE INTRODUCED TO HUMAN FRISK AND THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY, THEN THE NEXT DAY WE WILL FIND THE BEST SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENT FOR YOUR SKILLS.”

You were so happy to hear you’d already be on the job. Sans was, too, but…some selfish part of him now was sad. You wouldn’t be coming to his shop anymore since your work was on the far side of town now. Oh well. Not like it was meant to last, this bright sunshine in his life for a few minutes.

“That sounds lovely, your Majesty,” you said smoothly, beaming. “I’ll fill out these forms and return them to you, post haste. C’mon, Sans, you can help me with anything I don’t understand.” He was surprised you remembered he was there.

You sat right next to him on one of the benches in the office, using the clipboard Papyrus had offered you the papers on. You didn’t actually need help, but you would ask Sans some random questions. “Do monsters have social security numbers?”

“got ‘em when we came up. One of the few things I actually handled before abdicating.”

“magical specialty? What…?”

“just say determination. That’s every human’s specialty and yeah, it’s legal for the forms. Capitalize it though.”

“soul….?”

Sans looked at her, surprised, “have you not seen yours yet?”

“No.” You blush, looking aside, “I-I mean, the whimsuns I worked with offered every once in a while to show me but I was kinda scared. I mean…human culture says you die when your soul leaves your body so it’s not easy to get over that stigma fast.”

He gave you a soft version of his smile, “it’s okay. My brother’s kid can tell ya that’s not true, but if you ever wanna see, just say the word. Until then, just put not applicable. But, uh, do you know your stats?”

“yeah, I do. I don’t think they’d have changed. LV 1 EXP 0 and not much else.” She scribbled it down on the appropriate lines. He glanced at her chest briefly and looked away, smirking a bit. So you had no idea how lovely you were. Nice. Pure soul, a nice mix of green and dark blue, spilling its aura everywhere to comfort each sensitive soul you passed (mostly monsters since humans were notorious for being closed off to other beings’ intent). It felt nice, especially the bright spark when you saw what Papyrus had clearly added to the end of the document. “WHATEVER YOU PUT DOWN IS OKAY! YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON. YOU HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO HELP MANY OTHERS BY WORKING HERE! AND YOU’RE JUST FILLING THIS OUT SO WE CAN SHOW THE GOVERNMENT HOW GREAT YOU ARE FOR HELPING! YOU WERE HIRED THE MINUTE YOU ASKED. :)”

“hehe, isn’t my brother the coolest?” Sans sighed fondly. No matter what happened, he’d always adore Papyrus for just being himself. He never had to hide anything, never tried to even. He was honest and brave and loving….everything a king ought to be. Well, that and he actually had the energy to do ruling stuff. Sans had never bothered with it, really.

“He certainly is.” She seemed to hold something back, but continued as she signed and initialed where necessary, “You mentioned he has a kid? Are they the ambassador child, perhaps?”

“Frisk, yeah.” Sans nodded, sighing, “I don’t get to see them a lot, since me’n Paps are fighting, but we text. They’re something else….can’t tell ya how much I love’em. Really, they’re like a little walking fun factory. Nobody can stay upset around them.”

Sans turned back to you and felt the warmth creep up to his cheekbones. You were looking straight at him and absolutely beaming. “I can tell anyways, Sans.”

“oh…ehehehe. Guess you can see right through me, huh?” he punned, watching the realization on your face and enjoying the giggle you let out. Papyrus, at the desk but with seemingly bionic hearing, let out an aggravated “NYEH!” and that sent you into full on laughter.

Sans gave you a pat on the back and chuckled, “okay kiddo, just let that out. I’ll turn in your papers.” He took the clipboard from you as you waved him on. He stepped over to the desk and slid over the paperwork.

Papyrus grabbed him by the wrist, voice dangerously low, “Sans, if you lay a single distal on that girl-“

“paps please…” his sockets drooped sadly, feeling the iron grip his brother had on him.

“No, Sans. You lost your right to my trust when I found out the truth about my poor little friends. I love you as your brother, but I will not trust you until you can prove you’ve changed. Now listen and listen well.” The elder monster felt his eyelights shrink as he saw the rage in his brother’s face. “I can keep Frisk safe from you because they are a child. But she is a grown adult and I cannot control her actions or choices. You will not harm her in any way or I will make sure YOU are the one having a BAD TIME.”

There were soft footsteps and before either of them could move, soft human fingers were tugging on theirs in an attempt to separate them, “I apologize for intruding, your majesty, but I’d like my escort back.”

Realizing he’d just had a dark moment in front of another person, Papyrus blushed bright orange and stammered, “AH Y-YES SORRY! I’VE GOT, UM, KINGLY THINGS! TO BE DOING! SEE YOU AT EIGHT TOMORROW BYE!” he took the papers and scuttled away….behind a palm tree. And honestly it was clear he thought he was hidden.

Sans blinked in surprise, then sighed. Even when he was angry, he was still Papyrus under it all. He wondered if his brother would ever know how much he loved him. Probably not.  
You seemed amused with him for this, though worry still clouded your eyes. But you two head out. And she hasn’t let go of his wrist.


End file.
